Video: Super Bowl cookoff: Whose wings are best?

We brought in viewers from across the country to show us their stuff when it comes to cooking chicken wings for the big game. The result was a wide variety of flavors for you to snack on during kick-off.

Recipe: Asian Scorpion Pepper Wings

Sherri Williams

About Sherri Williams of Crestview, FL

I'm a mom, wife and a home cook. I cooked my first meal for the family when I was 12 years old. My greatest cooking inspiration was my Grandma Logan. She created the most wonderful meals from her very modest kitchen.

My love of Asian Cuisine, spice and wings were my inspiration for creating Asian Scorpion Pepper Wings. Their sweet heat is perfect for game day.

Ingredients

For the wings

3 lb chicken wings, cut up on pieces

1 tsp star anise,powder

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp white pepper, powder

1 bunch cilantro, chopped & divided

For the scorpion pepper sauce

1 cup water, cold

3 Tbsp uncle gary

2 Tbsp fish sauce, light

2 Tbsp soy sauce, light

2 Tbsp peanut oil

3 clove garlic, grated

zest & juice of 1 lime

Preparation

Mix star anise, ginger, onion powder, salt, pepper & half of cilantro together in a mixing bowl. Rub all wing pieces and marinate for at least 4 hours, best overnight.

Deep fry wings at 350 degrees in batches for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and juices run clear. Remove from fryer and drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, add all sauce ingredients to a medium-high heat sauce pan and whisk. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow sauce to reduce to a 1/3. This may take 12-15 minutes.

Add sauce and wings in a large mixing bowl. Toss wings until well coated.

Transfer wings to a serving platter pour sauce over wings and garnish with remaining cilantro.

Serving Size

Recipe: Apricot-Shellacked Ghost Chile Chicken Wings

Malcolm Bedell

About Malcolm Bedell of Rockland, ME

I am one-half of the food blogging team at FromAway.com. On our website, we examine not just the diverse food culture of the state of Maine, but also cook globally-influenced recipes that our readers can reproduce right in their own home kitchens.

Beware of the "Ghost Chile" in my wings. Until 2011, the Bhut Jolokia (or "Ghost Chile) was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the spiciest chile pepper in existence. It registers anywhere up to 1,041,427 Scoville units, making it more than 200 times hotter than the humble jalapeno.

The solution to the heat is to balance the it with an equal amount of sweetness: in this case, a whole jar of apricot jam, brown sugar, and honey, with only a half teaspoon of the ground Bhut Jolokia. The first taste that your brain registers is fruity sweetness; it's only after you chew and swallow (and repeat) that the heat clings to the back of your throat and wraps itself around your tongue.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 stick salted butter

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon ground Bhut Jolokia (or "Ghost") chile

1 cup apricot preserves

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup bourbon

5 pounds chicken wing sections, room temperature and patted dry

Peanut oil, for frying chicken

Preparation

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, honey, garlic, butter, ketchup, ground Ghost chile, apricot preserves, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring almost constantly. Reduce heat to a simmer, add bourbon, and stir. Simmer until sauce reaches desired consistency, up to one hour.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring peanut oil to 350 degrees. Working in batches, pat chicken wing sections until they are very dry, and add to hot oil. Fry wings, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about ten minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

When all wings are cooked, toss a few at a time in a bowl of the apricot Ghost chile sauce to coat evenly. Serve (with a glass of milk, just in case)

Serving Size

Recipe: Wicked Wasabi Wings

Nancy Judd

About Nancy Judd of Alpine, Utah

I was born and raised in Southern California. When I was three years old my mother helped me make my first cake in a little baking set she had given me for Christmas that year. I was hooked on cooking after that and have loved cooking and baking ever since. I love to make and eat really GOOD food. I have a blog -atnannstable.blogspot.com - that features cooking, tablescapes, parties and entertaining. I am a strong proponent of families and advocate 'bringing the family back to the table.'

Preparation

Baking Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Put chicken wing pieces on the pan and bake for 40 minutes then turn each wing over and continue another 10 minutes or more until wing pieces are golden brown and looks crispy. Remove pan from oven and let cool.

In a blender put the brown sugar, orange juice, vinegar, soy sauce, marmalade, minced garlic and minced ginger. Blend on high speed for about 15-20 seconds. Pour mixture into a medium size heavy sauce pan scraping all sauce out of blender with a spatula into the saucepan. Put sauce pan on stove and bring to a rolling boil and boil hard (stirring occasionally) for about 9 -12 minutes until like a very thick syrup. (The mixture should be dark and thick like molasses.) Remove from heat and add wasabi paste and diced jalapeno and blend well.

Put one third of the baked wings into the sauce and cover completely with sauce. Remove wings and put back on pan. Continue with remaining pieces. Make sure all wing pieces are completely covered with sauce. Drizzle remaining sauce (if any) over top of pieces again.

NOTE: If desire even more heat add more wasabi paste and substitute a habanero pepper for the jalepeno pepper. For extreme heat add more wasabi paste and substitute small Thai chilies for the jalapeno pepper.